Tall Kings, Brave Lions
by Saphreanna Grea
Summary: After Rose discovers the Silents' plan to kill the Doctor using Melody, she teems up with Jenny, the Doctor's daughter, to track down and steal her back. Sequel to Dreaming of Reality.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I'm really, really, really sorry that I left this for over a year. I didn't mean too, it's just how things turned out so please don't throw things at me *cringes away in terror***

**Part of the reason I haven't uploaded it that it keeps changing. I've had to rewrite it 2 times so far, this being the 3 version. I apologise to people who had read the start of the original and liked it but I just couldn't continue it. I really wanted to finish this story and rewriting it from scratch turned out to be the only option I had. :( Some of you will still be unhappy because this chapter's really small. I'm sorry. I'm starting off small so I can blackmail myself into finishing it. I'm still not exactly happy with it but I really want to move onto something new so, here it is. **

**Oh, and no, I don't own Doctor who. Probably a good thing, considering...**

* * *

Tall Kings, Brave Lions

_...But even the bravest Lions,_  
_They need a sidekick_  
_I know that even the tallest kings,_  
_They need a sidekick...Lisa Mitchell, Side Kick_

The cell door clanged shut. Jenny pouted at the retreating soldiers and _casually_ leaned against the bars. In her short life (roughly three years) she had become quiet acquainted with various cells across the universe which had caused her to develop the skills necessary to bust out of them. This one would be no different. Although, the people who put her there; the soldiers…

They were a bit of a weird lot. They seemed to be an offshoot of the Church, possibly heretics. The odd bunch popped up from time to time, deviating from the usual causes, but they didn't usually last long.

Could be dangerous though.

Could be quiet a challenge.

Jenny grinned to herself as the lock clicked open.

Maybe not.

She swung the door open and proceeded out into the corridor. Having no clue to which direction led to the exit, she randomly chose a path and waltzed along it as if she didn't have a care in the world. It wasn't as if she had anywhere pressing to be and anyway, she needed to formulate a half decent escape plan…or at the very least, a check list of things to do.

Number one: Find information. Specifically, who had captured her and what was their cause.

Number two: Plan an escape route with a vessel capable of outrunning her current captors.

The distant clomp of military boots from behind her disrupted her train of thought. An alarm went off and her own military instincts kicked in as she flattened herself in the shadows of a doorway. The better to surprise the guards that had just found her cell empty. She held her breath in anticipation...and almost chocked when the two soldiers ran right past her. She stood, bewildered for a moment, and then followed them as an explosion rocked the base. The alarm, which had been getting annoying, spluttered and died, along with the lights.

Darkness reigned supreme for half a minute before the emergency lighting blinked on. Jenny was quiet thankful for the dim lighting as it made it easier to tail the two guards. She was partially impressed. Armies usually have enemies and this enemy knew enough about the base to take out the power supply.

Out of the darkness came a sound of a weapon discharging and arcs of electricity jumped from a point in the shadows to the soldiers. Jenny skidded to a halt. They convulsed slightly before collapsing, bluish electricity spreading across their bodies. Jenny tensed, expecting the same treatment. A feminine voice rang out.

"Excuse me, but would you happen to know the way to the main computer?"

Jenny relaxed very, very slightly.

"No, but I was hoping they could tell me." Jenny gestured at the downed guards. A bit of playful banter between potential allies never hurt. "I'm just an escapee."

"Ah." The voice ahh-ed thoughtfully. There was a pause before the owner stepped into the pitiful lighting. From what Jenny could see of the woman, she had light blond hair, twisted up into a bun, pale skin, and was about half a head taller than her. She caught a glint of dark eyes but couldn't be sure of the colour. Her lips formed a friendly smile. "Perhaps we could look together?"

Jenny considered the offer. Realistically she shouldn't trust this woman but a feeling deep in her bones told her otherwise.

"Why not?" Jenny replied with a smile. "Breaking out of prison is always more exciting if you've got company."

"Great." The woman's grin widened. "I'm Rose." She held out her hand.

"Jenny." She shook Rose's hand enthusiastically.


	2. Chapter 2

**Important!**

**Okay, if you've immediately come straight to this chapter I suggest you go back and read the changes I've made to the first chapter...there's even an attempt at an explanation of why it took me over a year to update it.**

* * *

"Right." Rose clapped her hands together. She took out what looked like a pen and clicked it. The end glowed blue and a whirring sound filled the air. "The Flight deck is…" Rose twisted slightly, trying to find it. She stopped and clicked the pen off. "That way."

"Cool." Jenny admired the device as they set off. "Looks a bit like a sonic screwdriver."

"Same manufacturer." Rose replied shooting her a slightly puzzled glance. "Sonic pen. Much more inconspicuous. So, what were you in for?"

"Apparently it's illegal to have two hearts in this region of space." Jenny shrugged nonchalantly while Rose miss-stepped slightly.

"Two hearts?" Rose choked out, trying to remain calm. "Jenny…forgive me for asking, but are you a…"

"Timelord?" Jenny interrupted. She had learnt reasonably quickly that people tended to be rather impressed with this fact. Sometimes to the point where they wanted to auction her off to the highest bidder. Rose seemed like a reasonable person but you couldn't always tell. "Yep."

"Huh." Rose paused for a moment, her eyes staring vacantly and her brow furrowed in thought. Finally she spoke. "I was always told that the Timelords were destroyed in the war against the Daleks."

"I was born after." Jenny spoke softly. "Three years ago now, so I can't really give you any facts or anything."

"Three?" Rose snapped out of her thoughts and rounded on the girl. "You're three and your parents just let you go gallivanting about the universe willy-nilly?"

"I'm not a child!" Jenny snapped back before visibly deflating. Her voice took on a slightly vulnerable tone. "Anyway, my dad thinks I'm dead. I don't blame him, really. I did get shot after all."

Rose observed the lost look in Jenny's eyes for a brief moment before pulling the girl into a hug.

"Why don't you stick with me?" Rose asked her as she pulled back a little. "Travelling's always better with two. You never know, you might just stumble across you dad one day."

"Yeah, maybe." A small smile crossed Jenny's face. "I'd like that."

Rose grinned back and they proceeded along the empty corridors.

"It's rather…deserted for a military facility." Jenny observed.

"I think they're losing. Or have already lost."

"Against who?"

"Dunno." Rose stopped in front of a heavily sealed door. She clicked the sonic at it. "That's what I'm here to find out." They stepped into a room lined with sweeping panels, inlaid with monitors and various buttons. Rose headed, with a small measure of confidence to the centre panel.

"Well, ok," Rose amended. "I don't know exactly who they were going up against but the rumors and gossip say a good man." She busied herself hacking into the computer. "Which is odd really, especially for the amount of people they managed to recruit." She continued her musings. "Not many people want to fight a good man. Generally."

"Well maybe he's not as good as everybody thinks." Jenny supplied after a moment's thought. "Or maybe he's done something that could be thought of as both good and bad."

"Maybe." Rose agreed distractedly as she scanned through the data. Her face grew grim as she paused at a particular batch of information. Jenny noticed and quickly read over her shoulder. What she saw shocked her.

"They want to kill my dad?"

"And they're going to use my granddaughter to do it." Rose said in equal disbelief.

"You're…?"

"Okay, she isn't exactly my granddaughter, at least, not in this universe."

"You're from another universe?" Jenny asked curiously.

"Sort of." Rose sighed. "It's complicated."

"And in another universe this…" Jenny peered at the screen. "Melody Pond was you're granddaughter?"

"Well, I dunno." Rose sighed again. "I only raised her mother in the other universe. I may have left before she was born or she never existed there at all." Rose scrolled through more information. "Looks like they stole Melody just after she was born…"

They were both silent for a bit, contemplating the information before them.

"Well…" Jenny started slowly. "Why don't we steal her back?"

Rose turned and looked her in the eyes, her face blank. She grinned suddenly.

"Why don't we?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about the wait, I kinda forgot that the first 3 months of the year tend to be the busiest for me. Definitely not the time to try and post a story regularly. Ah well. Anyway, the next chapter might be a while because I have to re-write it. Just a heads up... **

* * *

A blue flash erupted, seemingly out of nowhere, and deposited two blonde travelers unceremoniously onto the pavement of a small alleyway.

"That was…" Jenny paused to catch her breath. "…one hell of a ride." The sizzling crackle of sparks and increasingly loud cursing drew her attention as Rose rushed to get the vortex manipulator off her wrist. It clattered to the ground and gave on last shower of sparks. Rose pulled out the sonic pen to scan the charred device.

"Unfortunately it looks like this was a one way trip," Rose said mournfully. "This thing's fried."

"Can't say I'm upset about that." Jenny replied. "So, where are we? And when are we?"

"I was aiming for 1967, Florida." Rose gingerly picked up the defunct vortex manipulator and slipped it into her pocket. Spotting an abandoned news paper, she peeled herself off the pavement to retrieve it. "Looks like we missed it by two years and…" She paused to mentally measure the distance from Florida. "About two thirds of the continent, roughly. We're in New York."

"So what do we do now?" Jenny asked.

Rose was about to reply when an explosion of energy lit up the night sky a couple of streets away. They both exchanged a quick grin before running as fast as they could towards it.

(…)

Melody dragged her dying body through the night. She couldn't take much more of this but she had no where to go and she was deathly afraid that if she stopped her previous captors would find her again. Painful coughs forced their way out of her lungs and into the cold air.

"Are you okay?" The concerned voice distracted her. Before she could answer the man another coughing fit attacked her. "Little girl, are you okay?"

"It's all right," Instinctively she knew it was true. "It's quite alright. I'm dying." A sad look swept across the man's face. "But I can fix that. It's easy, really. See?" She held out her glowing hands. Vaguely she realized that the man had run away. Not to worry, it would all be okay. She threw her head back and let the energy consume her.

(…)

The light faded abruptly but that didn't concern Rose or Jenny as they had already found where it was coming from. Quietly, they approached the little girl lying on the ground. They were silent for a few moments, contemplating the small figure in front of them.

"You know," Jenny broke the silence. "From the information, I thought she'd be older. And more gingery."

"I think she possibly was." Rose crouched down beside the sleeping toddler. "Looks like the regeneration regressed her age a bit. Not that she had much to begin with."

"Huh." Jenny considered it for a moment. She met Rose's eyes. "Now what?"

"Well," Rose paused to consider their options. "No vortex manipulator, no money, on the run from a religious cult and trapped in the past. It doesn't leave us much choice, really."

"Do we need to get jobs?" Jenny asked, a slight look of horror crossed her face. She'd tried having a job once, a foreign planet's equivalent of nine to five. It didn't turn out so well.

"Depends what you classify as a job." Rose mused. "If I remember correctly, the women's wage in this day and age isn't anything flash and I would really like to get off this continent."

"Are you suggesting we steal?" Jenny's eyes took on an excited gleam. Rose sent her a half hearted glare and Jenny managed to look suitably apologetic.

"I really don't want to, but I think we have no choice." Rose was silent for a moment, contemplating the dilemma. "All we need to steal is enough to set us up. I think I remember enough about history to invest it."

"okay, glad that's sorted. Let's get down to business." Jenny clapped her hands. Rose just stared at her, amused. "What?"

"Why don't you leave the stealing to me?" Rose chuckled. "I don't think bringing Melody is a good idea. I saw an abandoned building around the corner, why don't you hole up there?"

"Why?" Jenny whined. "Why do you get to do the cool job?"

"From what I can tell, you can fight better than I can. Did you forget that there's a religious military cult after Melody?"

"Fine." Jenny huffed and bent down to pick up the still sleeping toddler. "You better hurry back though." She turned to face Rose but was surprised to find her gone. "Guess it's just you and me, Mels. Come along Pond."


End file.
